Unseen Shadows
by Nightwing1104
Summary: Fluttersong gasped, sticks and thorns scratching at her legs and causing them to bleed. Blood dropped down onto the forest floor, and the sight of it made Fluttersong wretch with disgust. "Fluttersong..." A voice whispered, "Why?" (A little one-shot. Enjoy! Rated T for mild gore and death.)


_**Here's a small one-shot I created, since I was feeling a little under the weather. Enjoy!**_

**_I do NOT own Warriors. Warriors belongs to Erin Hunter._**

* * *

Fluttersong raced through the trees, running from an unknown beast. It roared behind her, its voice echoing only in her ears, and her ears alone. Birds flew out of their nests and from their branches in fear, and thunder rumbled across a sky that was bright blue and clear just seconds ago.

Fluttersong gasped, sticks and thorns scratching at her legs and causing them to bleed. Blood dropped down onto the forest floor, and the sight of it made Fluttersong wretch with disgust.

"Got. To keep. Running!" She forced her legs to run on, her light gray fur being fluffed up and matted by a strong gust of wind.

"Fluttersong..." A sorrowful voice murmured into Fluttersong's ear, "Why?"

"Get away from me!" Fluttersong screeched, not caring who else heard her. Shadows raced through Fluttersong's vision, her blue, bloodshot eyes flickering back and forth to try to make a shape, a form, anything out of the amorphous mass of darkness that followed her every move.

* * *

"Fluttersong!"

Fluttering lifted her head, her ears twitching. Her friend Hawkheart's voice drifted through the walls to the Warrior Den, reaching Fluttersong's ears. Hawkheart poked his massive tabby head through the den's entrance, startling her.

"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go on a hunting patrol with me." Hawkheart offered, extending his paw. He frowned as he saw Fluttersong's state.

She hadn't been sleeping well lately, her dreams plagued with horrible nightmares that would make Fluttersong cry if she so much as though about them. She was a sensitive she-cat at heart, and the fact that she had been having such dreadful nightmares only made her feel worse.

"Sure." Fluttersong mumbled, though she didn't seem very enthusiastic. Hawkheart stepped back, moving to make room for his friend. His black pelt shimmered in the sunlight, his dark amber eyes glinting.

"Come on, the prey is practically going to be running straight into our paws today!" Hawkheart mewed, purring.

Fluttersong had to agree with him on that. It was a beautiful day, and it was clear that greenleaf was finally upon them.

Hawkheart pressed up against Fluttersong, making her jump slightly. His pelt brushed softly against hers, and his eyes stared softly at her. "Come on, let's get going."

As the two cats padded over to the camp entrance, Fluttersong's Clanmates shot her quizzical and puzzled looks. She tried her best to ignore them, but unfortunately she failed miserably. The cats around her had worried expressions, and some whispered softly to one another about Fluttersong and Hawkheart. They looked as if they were going to rush in front of the pair and block Fluttersong's way.

But in the end, no one moved to stop her.

* * *

The hunting patrol had certainly been a success. Fluttersong had caught two mice, and even a fat squirrel. Hawkheart had caught a vole and a rabbit that could feed at least three small kits.

"Great!" Hawkheart exclaimed, "this will hopefully feed FrostClan for a while."

Fluttersong purred in agreement. She bent down, picking up one of her mice. "Want to share?" She asked, her mouth full of fur, "We can afford to lose one mouse." Hawkheart nodded, and the two cats settled down close to one another, each taking their turns picking a small piece of flesh out of the mouse.

Fluttersong enjoyed her meal, but all of a sudden, she began to feel uneasy, and a bit sick to her stomach. It felt like the trees were closing in on her, the shadows they created constricting around her until she could hardly breathe. A loud, unearthly sort of roar blasted through the trees, and Fluttersong had to hold her paws on her ears to block out the dreadful noise.

"Fluttersong?" Hawkheart murmured, "You okay?"

Fluttersong turned her head to face her friend, but what she saw was nothing that she expected to see. Instead of seeing Hawkheart's worried gaze, his image was replaced with another. Blood stained Hawkheart's pelt, and he was lying on the ground, his eyes glazed and blank as he stared up sightlessly at the sky.

Hawkheart slowly craned his neck, some pieces of flesh missing from the sides of his face and his forehead. Trembling violently, he glared at Fluttersong.

"Why, Fluttersong?" he whispered.

"WHY?!"

His voice turned into a deafening screech that seemed to shake the ground underneath Fluttersong's paws. She flattened her ears, but she was unable to look away. Fluttersong looked down, blood flowing over her paws like a giant, sticky puddle.

Hawkheart gagged and wretched, a stream of blood trickling out of his mouth. He fell backward again, convulsing until he laid still. Claw marks littered his sides and belly now, and they hadn't been there a moment ago. Fluttersong screamed like she had never screamed before in her life. She ran off into the forest, Hawkheart's screeches echoing in her mind and following her as she went.

As Fluttersong retreated, no cat would ever be able to see what had scared Fluttersong so much. Hawkheart wasn't even there with her at the time, and he never would be. His terrifying image had simply... Vanished.

And now here she was, facing a shadow that held no shape, one that only she could see. Again, that beastly roar sounded around her, making her stumble and fall to the ground. She scrambled back up, running blindly as thorns and sticks snagged at her pelt as if they were trying to slow her down.

Then, the ground disappeared beneath her paws, and she found herself falling into a dark pit of nothingness. She could hear Hawkheart's voice whispering in her ear as she fell. A thud followed by a sickening crack could be heard as Fluttersong plummeted to her death.

"_Why?"_ The voice said, and then there was nothing but darkness.

* * *

"Looks like she ran off too far this time." Riverflower, the medicine cat for Fluttersong's Clan, shook her head sadly as she stepped back and away from the pit that Fluttersong had fallen in. Warriors swarmed all around the pit, trying to figure out a way to retrieve Fluttersong's body.

Her body laid sprawled out, blood splattered around her as her glassy eyes gazed silently back at Riverflower. Fluttersong's head was twisted at an odd angle, suggesting that she had died from a broken neck. But that didn't mean that she didn't suffer before she passed.

"What happened?" Riverflower's leader, Flamestar, demanded. "What happened?!"

"I told you she was ill, Flamestar." Riverflower stated calmly, her green eyes shooting an icy glare at the ginger furred she-cat. "Hawkheart died many moons ago, and she still hadn't fully recovered from the shock. She slowly lost her grip on reality, and I told you and the other cats that she wasn't to be allowed outside of camp. But of course, no one listens to an old, grumpy medicine cat!"

She turned her head back to the pit, gazing at Fluttersong's body with sadness clouding her eyes. "Today is the same day that Hawkheart died all those moons ago. It must have been so awful that she ran off and fell from this cliff."

Indeed, Hawkheart had been viciously ripped apart by a badger moons ago. Fluttersong had been on a hunting patrol with him when he died, and she was traumatized and saddened greatly by the event. She blamed herself for Hawkheart's death, and she even thought that Hawkheart was haunting her. The events that led to her death never actually happened. They were simply figments of her damaged imagination.

"_And besides, Hawkheart haunting Fluttersong and driving her off the cliff as revenge was completely absurd_." Riverflower thought, shaking her head.

"It's safe to say that Fluttersong lived the better part of her life traumatized, and sadly she died that way too." Riverflower carefully plucked a small flower out of the ground with her teeth, and she threw the flower over the cliff. It landed right beside Fluttersong's battered body.

"StarClan bless your soul."

As Riverflower turned her back to the pit, a strong gust of wind blew forward, hitting her in the face and threatening to push her backward off of her paws and into the pit.

She managed to stay upright though, and dug her claws into the ground in response to the wind. Riverflower pricked her ears as a soft voice whispered to her, its tone sorrowful and mournful. The tone reminded her of someone, though she couldn't put a face or a name on it.

_"Why?" _

* * *

**_And that concludes this story! Hope you enjoyed it!_**


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